The Clerk
of the Committee on Appropriation, Dr. Abel Ochigbo, and his staff could not
access the secretariat of the committee yesterday as security agents prevented
them from doing so.

Yesterday’s
development followed the face off between the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu
Dogara, and the erstwhile Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin,
over allegations of budget padding leveled by the latter against the speaker,
key leaders of the House and some committee chairmen.

The
denial of access implied that the Secretariat of the committee may have been
sealed off as claimed by Abdulmumin through his twitter handle earlier on
Saturday.
Abdulmumin had accused Speaker Dogara of ordering the computers in the
Committee’s secretariat be moved to his office in a view to tampering with
evidence.

The
lawmaker had also alleged that there was an attempt to break into his office,
Rm 1.05.

In one of his tweets on Saturday, he said: “On the request of my lawyers, the
security agencies have promptly provided protection for the appropriation
secretariat, my office and house.”

Ochigbo,
fielding questions from journalists, said contrary to his claim, no computer or
document in the secretariat had been removed. He also said that the secretariat
had not been sealed as claimed.

But
attempt by him to access the secretariat at about 4.30pm on Saturday so as to
prove that it had not been sealed failed as security operatives denied him
access.
“Nothing is wrong with the secretariat, everything is intact in the
secretariat.

The
thinking is that the status quo should be maintained. Of course I can’t
instruct them to open the doors by force. So please bear with us because
instead of keeping you here I feel I should make this statement. They are
safeguarding the office,” he told journalist after he was prevented from
accessing the secretariat.

Ochigbo
also claimed that no staff had been harassed to intimidated.

In a letter addressed to the Acting Clerk of the National Assembly, he further
said: “I write to confirm that the committee secretariat is intact and has not
been threatened in any way. All records are also intact and safe. Both hardware
and software, in addition, our archival set up is properly kept and in order.

Furthermore,
no staff in the secretariat of the committee has been subjected to any form of
threat, intimidation or harassment from any quarter whatsoever. Any such
reports along the lines of the above allegations should therefore be totally
disregarded.”
Earlier the Chairman of the Appropriation Commitee, Hon. Mustapha Dawaki, told
journalists that all the documents in the secretariat were intact, including
computer hardware and software.